Former Starr sheriff gets five years in prison

He is the second Starr County sheriff in a row to spend time in federal prison.

Published 12:48 pm, Thursday, August 27, 2009

McALLEN - Former Starr County Sheriff Reymundo Guerra was sentenced Thursday to five years and four months in federal prison for helping Gulf Cartel operatives move marijuana and cocaine through his remote border county.

The prison term, set to begin Sept. 28, makes Guerra the second Starr County sheriff in a row to do time and the latest in a line of Rio Grande Valley officials convicted for corruption and abuse of office.

"I'm saddened to see a law enforcement officer who's indicted like this," U.S. District Judge Randy Crane said, recalling the recent conviction of Cameron County Sheriff Conrado Cantu. "It is a stain on the badge."

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Guerra was named in October along with 14 others on a 19-count indictment stemming from an investigation dubbed "Operation Carlito's Weigh."

He pleaded guilty in May to one of the three charges against him - conspiracy - in an agreement that dropped other charges and gave hope for a lighter sentence.

Since then, the investigation has netted 28 defendants, including a fifth grade Houston schoolteacher who got 46 months for being a drug runner and courier.

In the end, Crane said, it appeared Guerra's role was as a "minor participant" in a "significant, large conspiracy."

The larger operation moved loads as big as 134 pounds of cocaine or more than a half ton of marijuana regularly to distribution cells in Houston. Co-defendants sentenced before Guerra Thursday received terms as long as 235 months.

Jose Carlos Hinojosa, a former Mexican police official pegged as ringleader in the operation, is to be sentenced in October.

Though he may have helped smugglers evade detection with tips on stings or recent seizures, there was no evidence to show that Guerra actually arranged to move drugs or was a key player in the Cartel operation. It's unclear whether his ill-gotten gains amounted to more than a few thousand dollars.

"For really pennies and nickels you were influenced by these people," Crane said, chiding him for not using his post to help rid the border of drugs and crime.

His conviction hinged on two events: a scheme to create fake lease documents to make it appear a drug load belonged to an out-of-town tenant and a meeting between himself, Hinojosa, and a sheriff's investigator working with the multi-agency High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area initiative.

Guerra told the investigator Hinojosa was a Mexican police official conducting a parallel investigation and needed information about a recent bust. The investigator tipped off the FBI, who proceeded to tap phone calls and conduct surveillance.

Guerra, 52, initially faced 10 years to life in prison on the conspiracy charge alone.

"I want to say how sorry I am for putting my wife and daughter through this nightmare," he told the judge. "I apologize to my friends, family, and constituents for this wrong I have done."

He left the courtroom smiling at his family in apparent relief, but declined comment.

"The sheriff was satisfied with the sentence," said defense attorney Philip Hilder. "As the judge said, even though he was high-profile he had a minor role."